THE country’s rice imports for 2008 may reach about 1 million metric tons (MMT) to plug the gap in production and to prop up buffer stocks, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said, however, the government has yet to finalize the figures for rice imports.

“The volume of rice we will import next year could be about 1 MMT or more than that. But there is no definite figure,” said Yap.

The DA chief also instructed the National Food Authority (NFA) to continue buying palay to prop up supply.

In September the NFA tendered some 260,000 metric tons (MT) of rice supposedly for buffer stocking next year. This brings the total volume of rice imported for this year to 1.87 MMT.

The additional contracted volume already includes the balance of 80,000 MT of rice from the authorized importation of 1.7 MMT for 2007.

The government earlier allowed importation of around 1.6 MMT of rice as standby inventory for the lean months.

The NFA said the September importation could be the last for the year, unless extraordinary calamities would hit the country for the remainder of the year.

Despite the destruction caused by typhoons Lando and Mina, the DA has maintained its target of producing 16.2 MMT of rice for the year.

The Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) said output in the fourth quarter should grow faster than the production for the third quarter for the DA to achieve its production target for rice.

“For the farm sector to grow 4.5 percent to 5 percent this year, fourth-quarter growth should be in the range of 5 percent to 6 percent,” said BAS director Romeo Recide.

Recide disclosed that the crops and fisheries subsectors will remain major growth drivers for the farm sector this year.

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Despite some concerns about territory and jurisdiction, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and local government units (LGUs) around the Subic Freeport Zone agree that more economic benefits could be had by local communities when the free port’s tax- and duty-free regime is expanded under a recent order from Malacañang.

STATE-OWNED Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has inked a P4-billion loan agreement with three financial institutions and an investment bank that will serve as the government’s counterpart funding for the completion of the 93.7-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) project.

THE country’s rice imports for 2008 may reach about 1 million metric tons (MMT) to plug the gap in production and to prop up buffer stocks, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said Thursday.

THE top biotechnology expert of the Department of Agriculture said the Philippines may soon find itself planting genetically engineered trees if it is to meet the country’s timber, pulp and paper requirements and save its remaining forests from extinction.

MEMBERS of the Social Security System (SSS) can directly pay contributions and loans in more SSS branches nationwide as the state-run pension fund widened its branch teller network to 75 branches this  year from only 42 in 2006.